Fisher sticks with Mond as Texas A&M’s QB

AUBURN, AL - NOVEMBER 3: Quarterback Kellen Mond #11 of the Texas A&M Aggies throws a pass over linebacker Deshaun Davis #57 of the Auburn Tigers during the first quarter at Jordan-Hare Stadium on November 3 2018 in Auburn, Alabama. (Photo by Michael Chang/Getty Images)

Photo: Michael Chang, Stringer / Getty Images

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M running back Trayveon Williams has his quarterback’s back.

“No matter what happens, Kellen is our guy,” Williams said of his stanch support for Kellen Mond. “Coach Fisher chose him for a reason.”

Jimbo Fisher emphasized that for Mond to do what he’s supposed to as a quarterback, he needs all of his offensive linemen also to have his back — and front. Fisher, defending his oft-critiqued quarterback, cited a line breakdown as yet another example that a stalling offense isn’t always on the player receiving the snap.

“You’d almost rather a guy get beat at the line of scrimmage and come running at you than if a lineman gets pushed back on to you,” Fisher said of a quarterback’s view during an attempted pass. “It’s like being in a room and the walls are (closing) on you, and there’s nowhere to go, and you can’t see at the same time.”

Mond, the Aggies’ sophomore leader, is quite aware of the walls closing in — both during games and from some in a frustrated fan base beckoning for the most popular guy on campus, the backup quarterback.

“There’s some stuff I need to clean up,” Mond admitted this week.

The Aggies (5-4, 3-3 SEC), who host to Mississippi (5-4, 1-4) at 11 a.m. Saturday, have lost consecutive games following a three-game win streak, and plenty of the A&M faithful are calling for Nick Starkel on the heels of a couple of so-so games from Mond.

He’s been strikingly consistent in one area: In the two losses at Mississippi State and Auburn, Mond completed exactly 50 percent of his passes (23 of 46 versus the Bulldogs and 16 of 32 against the Tigers) with an interception in each.

The case for Mond is straightforward: He won the starting job over Starkel in August in Fisher’s first A&M camp, and as expected, there have been plenty of growing pains for a true sophomore in SEC play.

“He played a good football game,” Fisher said, backing his quarterback “one thousand percent” following the Auburn outing. “Did he play a great football game? No. As a line we played well, but we didn’t protect well at times — there were some critical moments in the end. And we need to get open more with our receivers in man coverage.”

The case against Mond primarily rests with Starkel — and Mond’s unwillingness to consistently exercise the second part of the “dual” that made him the nation’s top dual-threat recruit in the 2017 class.

Let’s start with Starkel. He won the job over Mond a year ago under then-coach Kevin Sumlin and promptly broke his ankle in the season opener at UCLA. Starkel returned about this time last season and started the final four games.

Starkel, who like Mond is a sophomore but had the benefit of a redshirt year while Mond played as a true freshman, really hit his stride in the Aggies’ 55-52 loss to Wake Forest in the Belk Bowl, throwing for 499 yards, second best ever in a game by an A&M quarterback.

With the Aggies out of contention in the SEC West and playing for bowl eligibility at this point, some argue it wouldn’t hurt to see what Starkel, who hasn’t touched the field in the last four games, can do to close out the season. But if Mond is truly Fisher’s guy moving forward — likely meaning a Starkel transfer — more playing time should only help Mond improve springing into 2019.

That brings us to Mond’s scrambling. He’s second to Williams on the team in rushing yards, but it’s a distant second (931 to 290) in 56 fewer carries (166 to 110). Fisher contends opposing defenses have to concern themselves with Mond’s mobility — the coach specifically mentioned Mond’s legs “as a big part” of why the Aggies had any success offensively at Auburn — but also said he expects his quarterback to focus on passing first.

“If you (only) look to run, you’ll never play quarterback, because you can’t read coverages,” Fisher said.

Mond said he considers himself “a passer who can run.”

Whatever the case, Mond appears to be “the guy” moving forward, with Fisher’s first recruit at quarterback, James Foster, having a redshirt year under his belt come this spring.

“We all get caught up in looking at the guy with the ball and not the cause of the play,” said Fisher, making one more case for Mond and the learning process involved with a young quarterback. “There were about four or five plays in the (Auburn) game we wish he had done better. We went through them all.”

Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle and chron.com covering Texas A&M athletics. He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball.

Brent is the author of four published books about Texas A&M, three related to A&M athletics. He’s a four-time winner of APSE National Top 10 writing awards for the San Antonio Express-News, including a second-place finish for breaking the Dennis Franchione “secret newsletter” scandal in 2007.

His coverage of Texas A&M’s move to the SEC from the Big 12 also netted a third-place finish nationally in 2012. Brent met his wife, KBTX-TV news anchor Crystal Galny, in the Dixie Chicken before an A&M-Texas Tech football game in 2002, and the couple has three children: Will, Zoe and Brady.